Lord: Taken away from inheritance at the beginning

Chapter 46 46. Ridge farming method
  The area of ​​Shanlin Town is not small. Luo Ning inspected it all afternoon and barely finished inspecting the wheat fields and vegetable fields in the east.

If he wanted to walk around his territory, it would probably take him two or three days.

When he set out in the afternoon, he was full of expectations, hoping to make a surprising discovery, but when he came back, it was just the opposite, and he felt disappointed.

Not only did he not get any surprises, but he discovered a series of problems, especially focusing on the cultivation of food.

Luo Ning took a sip of barley tea and sat at his desk. He began to recall what he had seen and heard in the wheat field, thinking about solutions to the problem.

"The uneven growth of wheat should be due to being too dense. The sowing method of randomly scattering seeds makes the wheat seedlings disorganized, and the distance between the wheat seedlings is too close, which not only affects their light, but also affects their growth."

"In addition, this tight situation will also prevent farmers from going to the fields to weed, fertilize, and water during the growth process. When mature, part of the wheat ears will also rot for this reason."

After thinking about it, the fundamental reason for this situation should be the way of sowing.

A word from the history books came to Luo Ning's mind - ridge farming method.

Ridge tillage is a farming method. The specific operation is to divide the cultivated land into ridges and furrows, and then plant crops on the ridges.

This type of farming has many benefits:
  For example, when planting on ridges higher than the ground, because there are ditches between the two ridges, the distance between the crops can be ensured, allowing photosynthesis to be more complete, and at the same time, it can also avoid the underdevelopment of roots and stems caused by too dense crops;
  The height difference between the ridge platform and the furrow is large, which is conducive to drainage and waterlogging prevention, and also facilitates irrigation along the ditch.

In the afternoon, Luo Ning also asked many locals that there is still plenty of rain in Shanlin Town. Ditching is conducive to drainage and can greatly reduce the possibility of wheat seedlings dying from waterlogging.

In addition, there are ditches between ridges, which gives farmers space to weed and fertilize, unlike now where they have nowhere to go.

Of course, it is also very important to use ridge farming to maintain the fertility of the land.

This year's ridges will be next year's furrows, and this year's furrows will be next year's ridges. This is a disguised form of fallow.

“This method is worth promoting!”

He took out a quill and parchment and began to write down the ridge farming method on the paper, and at the same time drew a simple farming diagram.

The night gradually deepened, and the valet Galen had already lit candles in the study early. The candlelight illuminated Luo Ning's serious face, making the maid who was waiting aside look a little fascinated.

She heard that nobles loved to enjoy themselves, either eating, drinking or having fun. Many nobles would even call their maids to their beds.

But the baron in front of him was completely different.

At the end of the day, Bella found that except for his lunch break, the Baron was busy almost all the time. There seemed to be endless things to do and endless words to write.

"Master~"

Chahar came in with a glass of milk. Galen and Bella bowed their heads and exited the room when they saw it, standing outside the door.

Although the housekeeper in the castle is not a noble, he still has some status. Moreover, Chahar is Luo Ning's old teammate.

Therefore, these new servants in the castle are respectful and obedient to Chahar.

Chahar also experienced the feeling of being a butler.

However, his respect for Luo Ning never diminished, but instead increased greatly.

"It's Chahar."

Luo Ning glanced up, then continued writing with his head down.

He has finished describing the ridge tillage method, and now he is planning how to apply fertilizer.

Along the way, Luo Ning discovered that whether it was Wushan City, Hushang Town, or his Shanlin Town, feces was always indispensable in the scenery on the streets.

In the afternoon, Luo Ning asked a farmer. He wanted to understand why farmers in this world didn't know how to use fertilizer.

After a general understanding, he found that the people here had not thought about using fertilizers, but they were using them in the wrong way.

The man said that when he threw feces and urine on the ground, not only did the crops not grow better, but the seedlings burned.

In this way, they think that feces is a harmful substance and cannot be thrown into cultivated land, which makes the feces worthless.

Naturally, no one manages things that have no value. The nobles don't care about them, and people regard them as garbage. This leads to a situation where feces and urine are everywhere on the streets.

How to make good use of these feces is what Luo Ning is thinking about now. Fortunately, he was born as a farmer in his hometown on Earth. When he was a child, he saw many people farming. He also studied science in high school and college, and knew about chemistry and microorganisms.

If you want to make rational use of human and deep feces, you can choose composting, decomposition, and fermentation.

Promoting this method within the territory will not only solve the problem of fertilizers and keep the land fertile to a certain degree, but also solve the problem of poor political environment.

Farmers know the importance of excrement and they will not defecate in the open.

For Luo Ning, this is a win-win situation.

However, whether it is the long farming method or composting, it is impossible to let everyone use it with just one sentence.

Luo Ning plans to find two people and set aside two test fields for verification.

If these two methods are effective in other worlds, they can be fully promoted during spring plowing next year.

"Master, you have been busy all day today, it's time to take a rest!"

Chahar put the milk in Luo Ning's hand and very considerately advised Luo Ning to take a rest early.

"I'm not sleepy yet."

Luo Ning put down the pen in his hand, picked up the cup and took a sip of milk.

The milk from another world doesn't taste that good, and even has a slight fishy smell.

But not everyone can drink fresh milk, it is a rare thing.

"How are the arrangements for the other servants in the castle?" Luo Ning asked casually.

"Everything goes well!"

The housekeeper Chahar was very satisfied with the new servants. At least what he said and what he taught, these people actively learned and performed well.

"Please rest assured, sir, it will only take a month at most, and the servants in the castle will be at the same level as Wushan Castle."

Luo Ning laughed, "Remember what I reminded you before, the hygiene in the castle must be done well. Wet areas must be dealt with quickly. I don't want to see mice or bugs in my castle."

"Don't worry, I have told you this repeatedly, and I will patrol every area every day to make sure there are no problems!"

"I can rest assured that I will leave the affairs of the castle to you."

Luo Ning smiled and said, "Have Political Officer Wilson come to see me tomorrow morning. I have something for you to handle with him."

Chahar was a little surprised. What needs him, the castle steward, and the administrative officer to complete together?

"I understand, Master, I will inform Wilson tonight."

"Let Galen go and inform you. Find me a larger pottery jar. I'll need it tomorrow morning."

Chahar didn't understand again. What did the master want him to do? He couldn't predict the master's thoughts at all, and sometimes he suspected that he was really an incompetent housekeeper.

But he also understands that there are some things that don't need to be asked so much, as long as they are done according to the master's instructions.

"As you wish!"

Chahar left the second floor with Galen and went about his business.

Luo Ning continued to work on his design.

He asked Chahar to prepare a pottery jar for the simple purpose of building the most primitive toilet in the castle.

Since you are going to collect feces for fertilizer, you should have supporting facilities, including a toilet.

Luo Ning would like to design a flush toilet, but this is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task, and he has no mature ideas about how to design the pipeline yet.

We can only settle for the next best thing, first build a primitive toilet, and then gradually promote the role of fertilizer so that everyone has a basic understanding, and then promote toilets and optimize the sanitary environment.

(End of this chapter)